


Poker Chips and Hearts

by ElvisRose



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Angst, Contemplation, F/M, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Melancholy, Past Relationship(s), Period-Typical Homophobia, Sad, Set between episodes 9 and 10, blink and you miss it - Freeform, but like only a lil, slight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 03:10:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10585200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElvisRose/pseuds/ElvisRose
Summary: John Henry had his revenge.The Stone Witch was buried up to her neck in salt.And yet the hurt in his heart didn’t go away.





	

John Henry had his revenge.

The Stone Witch was buried up to her neck in salt.

And yet the hurt in his heart didn’t go away. 

After Wynonna had gotten the demon witch to spill about the curse the puzzle had solved itself. One of the last times he had ever seen him, Wyatt had said he was going to Purgatory to look at a corrupt sheriff. He’d scoffed when Doc warned him of the demonic nature of said sheriff. Doc had no doubt now that that sheriff was either the Demon Clootie himself, or one his spawn. Wyatt had surely killed the demon’s offspring and sparked hellfire’s fury. 

Wyatt had mentioned a curse, the last time he’d ever seen him. Doc hadn’t understood then, but he understands now. The demon had his revenge and cursed Wyatt’s whole family, and then the witch went after Doc to drive the nail in further. _When Wyatt learned of our deal his heart broke in two._ That was what the witch had said to them. And Doc knew it to be true. But he also knew something else, something that Wynonna didn’t, that two hearts instead of one had broken that day.

_I did it for us_

It’s been 130 years and 3 months since he last laid eyes on Wyatt Earp. 130 years buried at the bottom of a well, left to rot for eternity, three months rotting in Purgatory. _Purgatory._ The place he was set to follow Wyatt to after the Stone Witch “cured” him. But of course, Wyatt had found him first, had come back for his best friend. Of course he had. But instead of the sweet reunion Doc had imagined, the pair had had a bitter farewell. 

_I did it for us_

Wynonna hadn’t figured it out yet. Doc was starting to wonder if she ever would. 

_Sounds like he was soft on Wyatt_

Soft on Wyatt. Doc had said that once to Wynonna. But it wasn’t entirely the truth. Doc was soft on Wyatt. Hell, Doc had been gone on Wyatt. He’d loved him like the moon loved the sea. Fierce, loyal and untouchable. And Wyatt had loved him back. 

_So I went after what Wyatt loved most—his best friend._

Wyatt had loved him back, yes, but sometimes Doc thought that perhaps he’d loved him more. Loved him too much, too hard, too fast. After all he was willing to make a deal with a witch in order for just a little more time with Wyatt when Wyatt hadn’t even been willing to stay by his bedside as he died.

_I did it for us._

_It’s still me Wyatt._

_Doc Holliday is dead and that makes you nothing but a memory. One I surely hope to forget._

Oh, how those words had haunted Doc during his many years down below. He’d spent years being angry at Wyatt for them. How _dare_ he? How dare Wyatt turn his back on Doc after everything they’d been through together. He’d turned his back on him as he lay on his deathbed, set to go out one last adventure, sure to come home to a dead partner. That alone had hurt a thousand hurts. But then Wyatt had come back. 

He’d returned home only to find his partner very much alive. And he had turned his back on him again. After years of contemplation Doc could understand why Wyatt had seen it as a betrayal. He’d just cursed his family and had lost them, before he even had them, to dark magic. And then he had come back to find he’d also lost his best friend to it. But at 36 years old and freshly cured from tuberculosis, Doc hadn’t understood. And it had hurt more than dying had. And so he’d watched Wyatt walk away, both of them feeling betrayed by the other.

The hour was late and Wynonna Earp was sleeping soundly, content in the punishment she had doled out on Constance Clootie. Yet Doc, lying next to her, couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t stop himself from contemplating the witch’s taunting words.

_So even if Wyatt softened, came looking for you…_

Doc wondered truly, if Wyatt had. He had no way of knowing, no way of finding out. Perhaps little Waverly would know. But he couldn’t ask her. It was too personal, too raw, too revealing. It was a secret between Wyatt and himself. They had told no one, not their friends, confidants or family. They’d never mentioned it to their wives and Wyatt had certainly never told his brothers or sisters. It wasn’t something that was acceptable then. And while Doc had learned that most people didn’t have a problem with such a relationship nowadays that certainly could not be said to be true for the 1880s. The secret was too old, too much a part of him for him to reveal it now.

Perhaps, if one of the others figured it out on their own, he would not deny it. But he would not for the time being, be revealing it to anyone. Certainly, not the Earp heir. And Wynonna was the Earp heir, there was no doubt about that. Even if she’d had an older sister once, he felt it in his heart that it was her. She was too much like Wyatt for her to be anything other than his heir. That was another secret that he would not be revealing anytime soon.

Wynonna was a lot like Wyatt in many ways. She was smart and cunning and damn good with a gun. Sometimes she would smile a certain way and Doc would swear he saw the ghost of Wyatt Earp in her eyes. Yes, she was a lot like her great granddaddy but she was different where it counted. If she had been too much like Wyatt it would have hurt too much and he would have stayed away. No, Wynonna Earp was her own person. And Doc loved her all the more for it. But love had not been enough to save his and Kate’s relationship and it had been the downfall of his and Wyatt’s. 

And now, as he lay next to Wynonna he knew that for as much as he loved her, he was not meant to. He’d had 130 years to think about his relationship with Wyatt. To realize that one person could not have enough love to hold two people together. Love had to be shared. And he would not repeat history again. He would not love an Earp more than they loved him. Wynonna would be fine without him. After all _In the end, everyone chooses the lawman,_

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this is. I just binge watched the whole show and it seemed to me that there was more to Doc and Wyatt's relationship than was hinted at. And I just wanted to write a short drabble about Doc's relationships with the two Earps but it went sad real quick. #currentmood. IAnyway I hope you enjoy. Leave a comment and some kudos if you dare.


End file.
